Dr. Murray Feingold: Dedicated doctors working while ill?

Dr. Murray Feingold

Tuesday

Jun 26, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2012 at 12:59 AM

I must admit that I am guilty — guilty of going to work when I’ve been sick. And I’m not the only doctor who has been guilty of such poor judgment. There is a name for my transgression, and it is called presenteeism — the act of working while ill.

I must admit that I am guilty — guilty of going to work when I’ve been sick. And I’m not the only doctor who has been guilty of such poor judgment.

There is a name for my transgression, and it is called presenteeism — the act of working while ill.

I certainly did not have presenteeism when I was a schoolboy. Just a sniffle or cough would be enough for me to plea to my mother that I was too sick to go to school. So, when did I catch this malady?

A recent article titled, “Why Physicians Work When Sick,” jogged my memory. When I was an intern and resident, you would have to be in the intensive care unit before missing a day at work. Although we would strongly recommend to our patients that they stay home and rest when they were ill with a cold or flu, we would soldier on.

It was our duty. Who would care for our patients? If we missed a day, it would put a burden on our fellow residents. In that era, we used the term “The Iron Intern” — we would work until we dropped.

For some poorly thought-out reasoning, because we believed that we were so necessary and essential, we never considered that we would also be transmitters of some type of infectious disease –– we were probably infecting the very patients we were trying to help.

In the recent study, 51 percent of the residents surveyed said they went to work even though they had flu-like symptoms. Although I never surveyed my fellow residents, I would say that when I was a resident, the number would be much higher. In retrospect, this is nothing to brag about.

In the study, the main reason the residents said they continued to work while ill was because it was their obligation to their patients and colleagues. For many physicians, this macho attitude of needing to go to work no matter the status of their health continues throughout their medical career.

But besides the increased risk of transmitting an infection to others, the doctor may not be functioning at his or her top physical and intellectual level.

The old saying, “The doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient” is particularly true if the doctor sends his patient (him or herself) to work while ill.

Dr. Murray Feingold is the physician in chief of The Feingold Center for Children, medical editor of WBZ-TV and WBZ radio in Massachusetts, and president of the Genesis Fund. The Genesis Fund is a nonprofit organization that funds the care of children born with birth defects, mental retardation and genetic diseases.

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